The lyrics are written as a concept story revolving around Malphas, the grand president of hell who commands forty legions of demons and appears before conjurers in the form of a crow. The album has ten songs, and “The Wizard’s Portal” is first. It’s an ominous sounding instrumental introduction to the album, with plenty of symphonic sounds, and segues right into “Flat Empire.” The drums roll at lightning speed, and there is a good balance of melody with aggression, with symphonic support. The sound ebbs and flows nicely along the way, ducking in and out of shadows and the light, and the band shows a strong sense of musicianship.

“Red Shield Syndicate” hears the blistering pace and thick sound continue on. The band is very good at placing different sounds exactly where they need to be to really make the music come alive. “Candle Hands” begins with thick and meaty bass tones as well as some attitude, but so far, the songs have a similar sound, and the band could do more to make them sound different from one another. “Shadow and Blood on Jekyll Isle” has some opening piano notes to differentiate it, but from there, it is another familiar sound. It’s a shame too, because the band obviously has talent.

“Pale Eyes to Snowy Skies” begins with smooth symphonic elements, and when the harsh vocals come in, they are intense and raging. This is exactly what I was talking about in terms of variating their sound a bit more. “Atonement” is also a different sound, leading in with piano and strings, and a lot of emotion. From there, the pace is again very fast and it goes straight for your throat. The band can also turn and pivot on a dime. The lengthy “Man, Raven and the Portal” closes the album. It begins with contentious sounds that are tempered a bit with melody and symphony. It rages, and settles for a bit, with a folky groove and clean female vocals. The lead arpeggios are also very well done, and the song carries an ominous and hasty feeling.

The album has sweeping musical arrangements that constructed well and obviously thought out in advance, and the quartet has some strong musical talent. This was a good album, but it could have been better if the band would have injected some more variety into things, like that closing song for example…it was incredible.